Juliana Esparza '18 to be Honored by NCEA for Selfless Service

HOUSTON, TX - Juliana Esparza '18 from the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston will receive the 2018 Youth Virtues, Valor, and Vision Award from the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) for selfless service, determination, innovation and ideals that are changing the world.

"NCEA extends its sincere congratulations to all the winners and to all those who have supported the outstanding service and faith witness of these remarkable young people," said NCEA Chief Leadership and Program Officer, Dr. Barbara Edmonson. "Young people in our Catholic schools are truly changing the world, one student at a time."

Esparza was chosen from more than 1.9 million Catholic school students across the country. She will be presented with the prestigious NCEA Medal of Honor and Certificate at Frassati Catholic High School on Friday, February 23, 2018.

"Seemingly quiet and unassuming, Juliana Esparza is in fact a phenomenal force for good," said Frassati Catholic Principal, Sister John Paul, O.P. "It is remarkable that a high school student, before the start of her senior year, has established a non-profit organization and conducted a week-long workshop for young people at risk for dropping out of high school. However, what’s most impressive about Juliana’s great accomplishments at such a young age is that they result from small, seemingly insignificant, choices made each day. Each day Juliana chooses to be sensitive to the needs of those around her and responds with genuine interest and support. It is not surprising, then, that she responded generously to the call to do something to change the high school dropout culture so prevalent in our communities. I am grateful that Juliana’s creativity, generosity and initiative are being recognized and highlighted through the Youth Virtues, Valor and Vison Award, particularly since she would not want the recognition."

Esparza plans to pursue a degree in engineering in college, and will continue her work with Live It Out, presenting at SXSW EDU 2018 in Austin, TX on March 6. Learn more about this event here.

"Receiving this award is an honor and a gift that shows what I could not have accomplished without my team, my family, and my faith and formation," said Esparza. "People made Live It Out happen. God placed these service opportunities in my hands so that I could do the work possible to help others. For me, this award shows that it takes Christ and a people-centered team to move forward. Frassati Catholic’s culture has helped me view my faith not as an obligation, but as an opportunity. School retreats, conversations on ethics, service projects, teachers, and students have shown me that after learning about Catholicism, it should be lived out, and it is best lived through service. It’s an encounter with Christ, which I think makes us really happy even if we don’t know Him."

Esparza also stressed the important role Catholic education has played in her formation.

"I think our faith is best lived when we know what we believe in," she said. "I went to Northwoods Catholic School from kindergarten through 8th grade, won a scholarship in 9th grade to Le Chatelard, a Catholic boarding school abroad, went to Klein Oak High School my 10th grade year, and am now a Frassati Catholic senior. Catholic education has been my formation and is my foundation because of its sole purpose - developing a relationship with Christ. Catholic education has helped me embrace an illness that could have caused confusion and an emotional harm unknown to me, yet brought me to the feet of the Virgin Mary. Who I am is because of the backbone of my Catholic education. I try to stand firm in my faith and when I fall, I have Christ to run to. I am grateful for the effort my family has made to gift me a Catholic education and an opportunity to know and live out who I am called to be."



Live It Out: An Organization of Hope

In the fall of 2016, Esparza founded a non-profit for at-risk high school teens called Live It Out. The organization’s main objective: to share hope.
 
"Sophomore year at the school I transferred from, one of my classmates, who had little motivation to reach her goals, dropped out," said Esparza. "That year I was driven to give more of my time to teens that felt like my classmate. I wanted to share the hope that has opened many doors for me. Last September, I filled a whiteboard with the dream of forming a nonprofit that would give teens hope and help in discovering what they’re capable of. If every teen, let alone person, knew how much they are capable of, the world would no longer be hindered by the fear of rejection."

This idea to spread hope, said Esparza, was in many ways motivated by her experiences at Frassati Catholic.
 
"At Frassati Catholic High School, we strive to live according to the beatitudes and to be fearless leaders that swim against the tide,” said Esparza. "Frassati played a crucial role in the formation of the organization. We receive so that we may give and at Frassati I received the gift of knowing that Christ is at our side. He is our hope. In short, what Live it Out does and we strive to do as an organization is to transmit hope. We strive to transmit hope to teens so that they may develop good actions, good habits, and good character, something that I learned in my Ethics courses at Frassati."
 
In September 2016, Esparza officially founded Live It Out to meet what she felt was a glaring need in the community: a support group for at-risk teens. Her model centers on the idea of peer-to-peer support: "Live It Out is different from many organizations that help reduce the dropout rate because it is run by teens for teens."
 
Live It Out takes aim at reducing the high school dropout rate that leads to more than 1.2 million teens dropping out of school in the United States alone each year. By cultivating hope, the organization also aims to foster community leaders "by offering teens communication, leadership, and creativity skills so that they may discover their potential."
 
After months on fundraising and garnering support, Esparza’s vision came to life this past June, as Live It Out hosted its inaugural summer camp from June 12 – 16, 2017 held at Sam Houston State – The Woodlands Center. The camp, led by 30 teen volunteers, hosted 25 at-risk teens selected from a pool of applicants. Each teen selected received a scholarship to attend the camp.
 
The camp developed a leadership curriculum with the help of a program called Youth Potential Development (YPD), run by Franco Soldi, an international motivational coach who has worked with more than 30,000 teens in Europe, North America, and South America.

Learn more about Live It Out at www.weliveitout.org.

The list of this year's NCEA Youth Virtues, Valor, and Vision Award winners may be found here.

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About Frassati Catholic High School: Founded in 2013, Frassati Catholic High School serves the families and parishes in the north Houston area of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. Administered by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation from Nashville, TN, Frassati Catholic High School prepares students to walk on the path of true happiness through a robust college-preparatory curriculum rooted in the Catholic faith. The school currently serves boys and girls in grades 9-12. For more information about Frassati Catholic High School, contact Kyle Smith, director of communications, at 832-616-3227.